Download - Rabbi David Mevorach Seidenberg, Scholar-in …Rabbi David Seidenberg, neohasid.org, kabbalahandecology.com, [email protected], 510-219-5834 Rabbi David Mevorach Seidenberg, Scholar-in-Residence

Rabbi David Seidenberg, neohasid.org, kabbalahandecology.com, [email protected], 510-219-5834

RabbiDavidMevorachSeidenberg,Scholar-in-ResidenceandTeacher

RabbiDavidSeidenbergistheauthorofKabbalahandEcology:God’sImageintheMore-Than-HumanWorld(CambridgeUniversityPress,2015),andthecreatorofneohasid.org.RabbiSeidenbergteachestext,musicanddance,andallaspectsofJewishthoughtandspirituality,intheirownrightandinrelationtoecologyandtheenvironment.Heisoneoftheworld'sforemostscholarsonJudaismandecology.HehaspublishedresearchonKabbalahandHasidicthought,Talmud,theSabbaticalyear(linkbelow),evolutionandcosmology,sustainability,animalrights,Maimonides,Buber,andmore.Heisanotedliturgistandtranslator,andleadsHasidic-styledavening(prayer)andnigunim(melodies).Hehasalsoworkedasanactivistandcommunityorganizer.RabbiSeidenbergfoundedthefirstHasidicegalitarianminyaninNewYorkin1995,andhasorganizedsimilarminyaniminLosAngelesandotherlocales.RabbiSeidenbergwasordainedbyboththeJewishTheologicalSeminaryandRabbiZalmanSchachter-Shalomi,thefounderofJewishRenewal,andholdsadoctoratefromtheJewishTheologicalSeminaryinJewishthought.HelivesinNorthamptonMAandteachesthroughoutNorthAmericaandtheworld.

RabbiSeidenberg’steachingempowerslearnerstobecomecreatorsofJudaismthroughdeepstudyandcommunionwithtextsandtradition.Hebringsnotonlyexpertiseinscienceandtexts,butalsoengagementwithspirit,embodiment,andritual.Hispersonalpracticeincludesafocusonthe“shamanic”dimensionofritualsandreligiouspracticeslikeShabbatandSukkot.HisbookKabbalahandEcologyhasbeencalled“stunning”(R.YitzGreenberg),and“oneofthemost,ifnotthemost,originalandimportantcontributionstothegrowingdiscoursearoundreligionandtheenvironmentofthelastdecade”(JeremyBenstein,HeschelCenterfortheSustainabilityinIsrael).

RabbiDavidSeidenbergleadsscholar-in-residenceShabbatonimacrossthecountry,andisavailableforlecturesandseminars.HealsoworksasaneditorofJewishStudies-relatedbooksandprojects.RabbiSeidenbergisthecreatorofresourcesforTuBishvatandTishaB’Avusedthroughouttheworld,andhastraveledtodivesecommunitiestoleadcreativeandtraditionalobservancesforbothdays.Healsofrequentlyleadsritualsderivedfromtheeco-spiritualitymovementlike“TheCosmicWalk”(linkbelow)thatincorporatescienceandSpirit.SeedescriptionsoffivethematicShabbatonprogramsbelow.


LinkstoRabbiSeidenberg’swork

LearnmoreaboutRabbiSeidenberg’sgroundbreakingwork,KabbalahandEcology:God’sImageintheMore-Than-HumanWorld,at:http://kabbalahandecology.com

TheextensivecollectionofTuBishvatresourcesdevelopedbyRabbiSeidenbergcanbeaccessedat:http://www.neohasid.org/resources/tu_bishvat/

RabbiSeidenberg’stranslationofEikhah,Laments,usedthroughouttheworld,canbeaccessedat:http://www.neohasid.org/resources/laments/

ForlinkstoDavid’sarticles,goto:http://neohasid.org/about/upcoming

RabbiSeidenberg’sadvancedtextstudyontheShmitah/Sabbaticalyearandthecovenantcanbedownloadedfromjewcology.org:http://jewcology.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/Genesis_covenant_commentary_7.pdf

RabbiSeidenberg’sversionoftheCosmicWalkritualcanbestudiedanddownlaodedfrom:http://www.neohasid.org/ecohasid/CosmicWalkfinal2011.pdf

Seealso:http://neohasid.org/about/pub,http://neohasid.org/about/teaching

From the Introduction to Kabbalah and Ecology:

We live in a wondrous place, this Earth, filled with beauty and surprise. A world where the merest sparkle on the surface of the water can suggest in its variation the infinitude of the universe, the “ru’ach Elohim m’rachefet” – the spirit of God hovering, fluttering on the face of the waters; a world where all our senses can be filled and overflow; a world in which we share so much with even the wildest and least known creatures. As human beings we have the potential to be enchanted by all those creatures, to act in love and in faith toward them, and toward the greater mystery and unity that is all Being and that transcends all Being. As human beings, we have the potential to feel compassion for all people and all creatures we meet, and yet we have such passions and dispassions as to make us forget compassion.

Compassion does arise, naturally and spontaneously, from the moment we encounter an Other. Moral reflection can extend the reach of that compassion, even beyond the neighbor, and beyond the span of a single lifetime. But our moral vision is too easily limited to what we can imagine in our mind’s eye. Religion at its best serves to magnify the power of compassion and moral vision beyond the naked eye and the “naked mind”, to extend it over hundreds or thousands of years. Religion can teach us how to act to preserve life far beyond the horizon of what any of us can calculate or plan for. Religion, ritual, faith, tradition, all of them exist as guides, not just for one lifetime or for one generation, but for the proverbial seven generations, that is, for as long as any civilization will last, potentially for tens of thousands of years.

This truth is embedded in the Torah’s plea to each person she addresses: “Choose life, so that you and your seed will live!” (Deut. 30 :19)


ExamplesofShabbatonthemesandsessions(elementsfromanyofthesesessionsmaybeincorporatedintoasingleShabbaton)• “TsfatShabbat”–focusingonChasidus(Hasidicthought),nigunimorspiritualmelodies,and

davening,withaspecialemphasisonembodiedprayer,includingdance.ExperientialelementsofthesethemesarealsoincorporatedintoanyKabbalatShabbatserviceledbyRabbiSeidenberg.SessionsmayalsoincludestudyingtheteachingsofRebbeNachmanofBreslov,ShneurZalmanofLiady(theAlterRebbe,founderofChabadHasidism),ZevWolfofZhitomir,andofcoursetheBaalShemTov,theirethicsandtheecologicalimplicationsoftheirthought,andinthecaseofRebbeNachman,thetheurgyofdance.

• “KabbalahandtheExuberanceofLife”–lookingatKabbalahthroughthelensofecologytouncoveranewenvironmentalethic,focusingespeciallyontheroleofKabbalahinextendingGod’simagetothemore-than-humanworld.Issuesthatmaybecoveredincludebiodiversity,animalrights,climatechange,fracking,andgeneticengineering.SessionsmayalsoprovideabasicintroductiontonativeKabbalisticconceptsliketheSefirotandPartsufim,thevisionoftheuniverseasAdamKadmon,thesoulsofanimals,thelightoftheEarth,andKabbalisticbeliefsaboutreincarnation.SessionsmayalsofocusspecificallyontheZoharoronthewritingsofYosefbenShalomAshkenazi,MosheCordovero,theShlah(IsaiahHorowitz),andShneurZalmanofLiady(theAlterRebbe).

• “ThePassionsofMaimonides”–focusingonMaimonides’steachingsintheGuideforthePerplexedrelatedtoanimalrights,organiccosmology,andhisrejectionofanthropocentrism.SessionsmaybedevotedtocomparingMaimonides’sideaswiththescienceofGaiatheory(theideathattheEarthfunctionslikealivingorganism)andwiththescienceofevolution,and,moregenerally,whathisworkteachesusabouttheuncensoredhistoryofscience.Discussionmayalsotouchontheevolutionofhisthought,hislaterrepudiationofSaadiahGaon,andhissignificanceformedievalphilosophy(includingChristianandIslamicthought).

• “LivingtheCyclesoftheEarth”–focusingonthemeaningoftheJewishFestivalsinthelifeworldandagricultureofancientIsrael,theShmitah(Sabbaticalyear)cycle,andthehumanplaceinthecosmos.SessionsmayincludeextendedtextstudyonShmitahanditsroleinthecovenant,examiningthefactthatintheTorahthelandisviewedasapartnertothecovenant,whoserightsmaytakeprecedenceoverhumansurvival.Discussioncanalsoincludecomparisonwithsocialecology(MurrayBookchin)anddeepecology(AldoLeopold).RelatedfocusesincludethemeaningofritualaccordingtoKabbalahandtheroleoftheEarthandembodiment,comparisonofJewishpracticeswithNativeAmericanrites,ShabbatasweeklypracticefortheShmitahandJubileeyears,andtheshamanisticmeaningofharvestrituals(especiallyrelevanttoSukkot).

• “LoveYourNeighbor/LovetheStranger”-focusonhumanrights,peace,halakhahandethics.SessionsincludestudyoftheprincipleofhumanequalityinmidrashandTalmud,theevolutionoftheideaoftikkunolamfromMishnahthroughthemodernperiod,imitatioDei(theidealofimitatingGod’sactions),andtheprincipleofkedushah(thecommandtobeholy).Thisstudycanincludehowsuchideasandprinciplesrelatetocontemporaryissueslikeimmigrationreformandimmigrantrights,communalresponsibilityforthepoor,andissuesconcerningIsrael,suchasthesituationoftheBedouin.SessionsmayalsofocusonmodernthinkerslikeMartinBuberandYitzGreenberg.